KL, Pyongyang set to start talks in few days

KUALA LUMPUR, March 11 2017 : Malaysia will hold an official meeting with North Korea in the next few days in a bid to bring home Malaysians barred from leaving the country.

Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman said that currently his ministry was having internal discussions with relevant parties including the police and Health Ministry in preparation for the talks.

On Tuesday, North Korea barred all Malaysians from leaving the reclusive country. Eleven of them were initially affected but two, who are United Nations employees, were allowed to leave and are currently in Beijing.

“We want to study in detail what we will be discussing before the official meeting…must look from the legal, humanitarian and security aspects.

“We will take all this into consideration,” Anifah told reporters after having a closed-door meeting here today with family members of the affected Malaysians.

Anifah said the venue of the meeting with the North Korean side had yet to be determined.

Anifah said Malaysia did not need a third party’s involvement in resolving the stand-off with North Korea despite receiving many offers.

He said foreign ministers of several countries had called him directly while others had their officers contacting Foreign Ministry secretary-general Datuk Ramlan Ibrahim to offer their assistance.

“We still have diplomatic ties (with North Korea), we don’t need a third party although there are many offers,” the foreign minister said.

He noted that currently the Malaysian government was still able to speak directly with the North Korean government through their embassy in Kuala Lumpur.

Anifah said diplomatic relations between Malaysia and North Korea would be maintained if the nine Malaysian nationals who were prevented from leaving that country could return to Malaysia quickly and safely. – Bernama